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How the weekend unfolded

European Voice

10/26/11, 10:01 PM CET

Updated 4/12/14, 10:07 PM CET

Friday (21 October)

Eurogroup

2pm

The meeting of eurozone finance ministers gets under way, kicking off three days of intensive talks. While the meeting is taking place, Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, confirms what most people expected, that the weekend would not produce a comprehensive solution and that another eurozone summit would take place on Wednesday (26 October).

8pm

Details emerge, in the shape of a leaked document com-piled by Greece’s international lenders, suggesting that the economic situation in Greece is now so dire that bondholders could be forced to take losses of up to 60%. The deterioration in the economy is reflected in an official statement from the finance ministers an hour later. It announces that, at last, Greece would be getting its €8 billion loan, made up of European Union and Inter-national Monetary Fund (IMF) money, the sixth tranche of its May 2010 bail-out package.

Saturday (22 October)

Ecofin

10am

The talks continue, this time with all 27 finance ministers. On his way into the meeting Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxem-bourg, who chairs meetings of eurozone finance ministers, goes some way to confirming the previous night’s report, saying that haircuts would have to be significantly higher than the 21% agreed at a eurozone summit of 21 July, although he does not mention a new figure. The meeting gives way to an impromptu second meeting of finance ministers from the eurozone only. There appears to be agreement that Europe’s banks need more than €100bn in new capital to protect them against further financial shocks, such as a Greek default, but this figure is still considered too low by many financial analysts.

General Affairs Council

4pm

Non-eurozone-crisis matters are on the agenda for foreign and Europe ministers when they hold their customary meeting to prepare for the full European Council. But it is not a gathering completely free of the eurozone crisis. Guido Westerwelle, Germany’s foreign minister, calls for greater powers over national budgets and acknowledges that “substantial treaty changes” will be needed.

Sunday (23 October)

European Council

10am

It appears that there is disagreement between the 17 countries that use the euro and the EU’s other ten. Van Rompuy says that he is “aware of the sensitivity” and, after lobbying from the UK and Poland in particular, says that all 27 leaders will meet on Wednesday, not just the 17 in the eurozone as originally planned. The end of the meeting is apparently delayed because of an angry exchange, with Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, telling David Cameron, the UK’s prime minister, that he is “sick of you telling us what to do”.

4.30pm

France is no longer insisting that the European Central Bank should help finance a beefed-up European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) – the issue which has been a major stumbling block to a deal between France and Germany. In addition, leaders agree to allow the countries of the eurozone to explore “the possibility of limited treaty changes” to strengthen the governance of the eurozone. The meeting also revealed the extent to which leaders are putting pressure on Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister of Italy, to come up with a credible finance- reform programme.

Eurozone summit

7pm

The demands being placed on Italy remain an issue as talks between the 17 leaders of eurozone member states get under way. It emerges that Berlusconi has been asked to present a plan on Wednesday to show how Italy intends to cut its debt and reform its economy.

10pm

As the weekend’s negotiations draw to a close, Van Rompuy acknowledges that there is still no agreement on how to bolster the EFSF. There are two options on the table, he says. José Manuel Barroso, the Commission president, confirms the conclusions of the earlier European Council calling for the G20 group of the richest and emerging economies to agree to raise the lending capacity of the IMF by contributing more money.